


You Make My Soul Brighter

by HarleySquadGirl



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Human, Light Angst, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-02
Updated: 2015-11-02
Packaged: 2018-04-29 15:15:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5132300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HarleySquadGirl/pseuds/HarleySquadGirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ali was just a girl trying to live her own, discover herself and what she lived for. Sans was just trying to make a better life for him and his brother, no matter the cost to him. They never thought that their two paths would weave so well together. Especially not with his rocky past with his brothers maybe boyfriend or a father with issues that he tried desperately to make up for. Especially not with her mother who had her whole life planned out for since birth and who's bitter control she was still trying to shake. And in the end neither of them could be sure if their paths would end in the same place. But they were willing to see where they went.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Based off of the human designs and some headcanons by toddnet on tumblr

At times college seemed like the best place Ali could have been, she was meeting more people than she could have ever imagined and was for the first time in her life free to make her own choices. Yet it was during times like this that made her wish she had stayed at home with her parents for the rest of her life. Of course all of her friends told her that everyone felt that way during their first midterm season but she was actually pretty sure she was falling apart at the seams.

Even now she was wondering around campus with her bag full of every text she owned, she paused for a brief moment to consider if this was how those bad guys in the old movies felt caring a million dollars in a brief case but thought that they weren’t gonna end up with a hunch back like her. Normally she would have at least one book in her hand but after passing out in the library for the eighth time the librarians finally grew concerned and told her to grab something to eat and take a nap.

Ali knew that by snack the librarian probably meant something healthy but she had nether the patience or the money for all that. So instead she was making a beeline for a hot dog stand on the far side of campus. It was cheap and in a relatively quiet spot so she could sit down and get a little bit more studying in. Her first exam in anatomy was coming up on Monday and was causing her to claw at her hair. This just stressed her out even more since she had spent so long getting her unwieldly curls the perfect tawny brown. Her mother had nearly fainted upon seeing it which had made the shade even more satisfying, which is why she was working so hard to keep it on her head and not in her fists.

She couldn’t help but think she was rambling in her own head at this point though and the thought of sinking her teeth into something other than a pen seemed pretty good. Ali pushed the sleeves of her sweater up as she approached the warmth radiating from the hotdog cart. Her eyes darted up briefly to see who was operating it today and gave a small smile in acknowledgment. It wasn’t someone she recognized from her previous trips here but that wasn’t saying a whole lot. She was really terrible with remembering people and she had only been a couple times.

He acknowledged her with the same lazy lift of his head and grunted as he stood up from his leaning position. He had the same dark bags under his eyes that she was sure was under hers and she felt a small rush of sympathy. At least she wasn’t the only one struggling this week. “Hey can I just get like one plain hot dog and a water,” Ali said after rehearsing her order in her head the whole awkward walk it took to close the distance down the walkway.

At first he didn’t move, only examined her through half lidded eyes and a smirk as he looked her over. Ali thought her worst fear had come true and she had somehow managed to mess up the simple task of ordering her food. After a long dragged out minute though he just gave a shrug and rolled a bottle of water over to her before reaching in and grabbing her hot dog. She looked down at it with a scrunched up nose “Hey I asked for this with nothing on it … this is drowning in ketchup,” she said raising an eyebrow at him.

The guy behind the cart only smiled and cocked his head up slightly to catch her eye “Yeah I know but trust me ketchup makes everything better. Come on, one bite and I bet you will be hooked,” he said snapping his fingers and giving her a wink. Ali felt her breath hitch in her throat slightly and a blush rising to dust her golden skin bronze. She gave a disgruntled huff and took her food, shifting her bag awkwardly onto her shoulder in order to juggle it in her hand. She looked down at the smothered food questionably before taking a tentative bite.

Her eyes went wide and she gave him a wide smile. “Oh my gosh this really is great!” she said going to wipe at her mouth. He perked up and his eyes went twice as wide as her own, showing off his eyes which she noticed were actually two different eyes. One a stunning blue and the other a rich brown. Well at least she would be able to recognize him next time she saw him.

“Woah really? I thought for sure that no one else would like them with that much ketchup so I would be able to eat all of them. This is just as cool though,” he said with a ringing laugh. Ali laughed along with him as she walked towards the trash can where her laughing face turned abruptly into a frown. His own laughs faded into a small cough when he saw her sudden change.

“No not really that was terrible,” she said with a small glare, releasing the hotdog into the trashcan with a loud clunk. “It tasted like biting into a rotten tomato. I guess I’ll just take the water and some chips,” she grumbled shoving a few dollars into his hands before marching over to plop herself down at one of the cement tables. They weren’t exactly comfortable but their cold, rough seats would keep her awake and alert while she studied. She pulled out her anatomy text book and cracked open her notes on the human skeleton. While it wasn’t going to be all that her exam was going to be on it was gonna be the hardest part for her because she was terrible with remembering all those small bones and what they connected to.

Just looking at the diagram of a hand was making her stomach churn with anxiety. Why did the hand need so many small bones? Why couldn’t they just be one big bone together? She groaned and thought that if she slammed her head into the table it would give her a concussion and a reason to give herself a few more days to study. Ali was a few seconds away from trying her luck when she heard shuffling foot steps behind her. She stiffened and saw a flash of blue coat from the corner of her eyes.

“Hey since I kind of ruined your lunch I thought I would bring you something to warm up your buns,” the hotdog cart guy said. Ali reeled back her hand, quite prepared to slap the smirk off his face, but fell short seeing him holding out the plain hot dog she had originally asked for. And from the steam curling off of the sausage it must have been fresh. She couldn’t help but wonder if he had made a new batch just for her. “The name is Sans by the way and uh I hope my awesome puns didn’t scare you off,” he grinned chuckling as he helped himself to the seat across from her and slid the hotdog her way.

Ali knew that she really should be more cautious accepting food from strangers but she was hungry enough and desperate enough for a distraction to push her notes away and pick up the hotdog. “Oh um thanks,” she said blinking over to Sans, cradling the food in her hands as she watched him munching away on his bun filled with ketchup. She assumed the hotdog was in there somewhere. She took a small bite and smiled, happy to find no hidden ketchup somewhere and let her shoulders fall in relaxation. “I have been known to crack a few puns myself so no worries there, these notes are more likely to scare me. My names Ali, its nice to meet you” she said tucking her hair behind her ears.

“Well then I will look forward to a future pun off, in the meantime what are we studying?” Sans asked not waiting for an invitation before slouching onto the table, his hand lazily holding up his head as he picked up her scattered notes. Ali watched him with hawk like eyes, the last thing she needed was ketchup on her carefully taken notes and study guide. But to her utter surprise he pulled a pencil out of the spiral of her notebook and started to fill in the answers on the guide.

“Hey be careful I won’t be able to read it if I have to erase it another time!” Ali said with a muffled cry, snatching the paper out of his hands as gently as she could. She smoothed out any wrinkled on her knee before staring at his answers in surprise, they matched up identically to the one in her book. “Woah you did all this from memory? Are you taking this class too?” she asked in amazement, scooting over to the other side of the table and leaning in close to look at him as if he were the most interesting person in the world.

Sans rubbed at the back of his neck and she could have sworn she saw a blush rise to his cheeks, which only made her realize just how close she had gotten but she didn’t dare move at this point and make things even weirder. “Oh nothing like that, I just like this kind of stuff. I use to read my dad’s anatomy books when I was a kid so it just kind of stuck around up in my head I guess,” he said running his fingers through his hair. Then the sheepish smile he had suddenly creeped along his face to a wide grin “Actually if you wanted some help with it I could totally lend a … hand,” he said wiggling his eyebrows as he passed the diagram over to her.

Ali snorted at the lame joke, rolling her eyes as she started to pack away all of her things so he didn’t have any other excuse to assault her ears with lame bone jokes. “Ahhh come on that was the perfect opportunity, seriously though you seem to be stressing so I don’t mind helping out. Say over dinner tomorrow? It would give us a chance to … ketchup?” he cackled nudging her in the side with his elbow. At this Ali couldn’t help but give a very unattractive chortle, which Sans must have took for a yes as he clapped his hands together “Alright awesome I know this awesome diner a few blocks from here, they have an open mic night that’s fun to listen to and enough room for all your nerd papers,” he said with a self-approving nod of his head.

“Hey don’t you think you should actually get my permission before just making plans like that?” Ali said, tripping over her words at the brashness of Sans. “Just cause you gave me a hotdog don’t mean you just get to take me out whenever you feel like,” she said poking him in the shoulder before letting out a groan at what she had said “Oh that sounded sooo bad.” Sans was already lost in a fit of silent laughter, obviously trying and failing terribly to conceal how funny he had found her statement.

Ali pursed her lips and turned her head with a huff, surprised her cheeks weren’t sending steam into the chilly air. “Lets just pretend I intended that to be funny …” she muttered licking at her chapped lips and pretending to ignore the innocent puppy eyes Sans was attempting to give her in what she assumed was some kind of an apology. “But seeing as I do need all the help I can get and can’t afford to be picky I guess I really don’t have much of a choice,” she said giving a deep sigh as she stood up, stretching out her long lanky legs.

“Eh I will take what I can get,” Sans said with a shrug as he slunk up next to her, giving Ali the first chance to really see the height difference between them. It wasn’t exactly major, with the top of his head just at her eye level, but she had always had a thing for shorter guys. She just hoped that he was one of the few guys who didn’t get irritated by being seen with a taller girl. Though she was quick to reprimand herself and remind herself that this wasn’t a date or anything. Just a study session at a totally adorable sounding café with a begrudgingly admitted cute hotdog sales man. No not a date at all. Either way Sans seemed to be quite proud of himself, looking up at her with a crooked smile and taking her hand and scribbling down an address with a marker he had stuffed in his coats pockets. “This is my apartment, stop by at five-ish and we’ll get the show on the road. See you tomorrow Ali and remember to stay cool,” he chuckled zipping up his coat the rest of the way, not even giving her a chance to argue against the plan.

Ali stared down at her hand and hid, what she would call, a ridiculously girlish smile by finish the last of her water. She had come to try and relax a little with a snack but she supposed a dinner invite worked just as well to ease a little bit of her stress. Although now she had worry about what exactly she was going to wear ….


	2. Chapter 2

Ali didn’t want to admit that this was a date. She wanted to wear sweatpants and a stained shirt and bring nothing but all of her text books but she couldn’t. She hated herself for it but she wanted to look cute for tonight and managed to tell herself that it was because she may run into a hot guy at the café. She was certainly not going with a hot guy with piercing eyes and the type of big arms that she drooled over. She certainly wasn’t dressing in her favorite red velvet skirt despite it being freezing outside for him. She really wasn’t wearing that low cut black long sleeve shirt that she knew made her figure look great for him. And she most defiantly wasn’t cutting off the circulation in her calves to wear her cutest pair of knee high socks, the ones she was carefully to wash by hand so the bows didn’t fall off. And she wouldn’t even dream about wearing her ballet flats because she didn’t want to tower over Sans any more than she already did. No the only thought she gave to the tired bed headed boy was to carefully pack away all of her anatomy books into her purse before heading out the door at a time that she of course hadn’t put so much time into so that she could arrive at his door at exactly five. Why would she ever give him that much thought?

No matter what her thought process may have been though she walked to the address she had saved onto her phone, glad that the wind wasn’t too sharp today so that her make up would stay in place and not smear from watery eyes. Hey when you put an hours work into perfection you want it to stay that way all night and not smudge on a ten minute walk. When she arrived at his door she could feel her stomach tighten into a knot, her hand resting gently against the smooth wood. She bit on her lip and gave a small whine the thought of everything she could have done wrong suddenly bursting into her mind. What if she had gotten the time wrong? Or had read the address wrong? Or maybe this was the completely wrong place because she took a wrong turn? Was she even in the right country? Ali tried to tell herself that at least half of her concerns were unwarranted, even though they felt so real that she was sure she was going to barf onto the welcome mat. She forced herself to push through though and knocked at the door. Even if the loud confident knock she had envisioned turned into a soft tap. Well at least it was audible.

Ali could hear someone stomping around inside and few muffled barks before hearing a voice that was not Sans call out “The doors open come in!” She hesitated for a moment but not wanting to stand outside and look like a weirdo to the neighbors she cracked open the door just as she heard a panicked Sans cry out “Papyrus no! The dogs!” But it was already too late, she saw two dark sleek masses bounding towards her. She had just managed to close the door behind her before the two Dobermans were jumping on her, barking happily and licking at her arms.

Sans came sliding across the hardwood floor into the living room, giving a sharp whistle which called the two large exciting dogs over to his feet obediently, though their tails were still wagging uncontrollably. “Oh fuck I’m so sorry, I usually try to have them all locked up before someone new comes over I hope they didn’t scare you or anything … hey you get back here too little girl,” he said bending down to catch the scruff of a smile pile of white fluff that Ali could only assume was another dog.

Ali could see that Sans seemed to be pretty upset about the whole thing, his cheeks enflamed and his eyes glaring down to the oblivious pets. All she could do was laugh though and walked over to kneel down by the dogs and stroke at their smooth fur, the third ball of fluff happily yipping and jumping to put her front paws on her thighs. “Hey if I go down by two masses of fur and love than that’s the way it has to be,” she smiled looking up at Sans with eyes still sparkling with laughter. She turned away her head back down with a blush though when she realized the position her impulsive dog petting had caused, her kneeling down with her head being just in range with his groin area. She gave a small cough, trying to ignore that Sans had realized the same thing and was looking down at her with a smirk.

Despite perfectly willing to stay on the ground with the pups all night Ali finally pushed herself back to her feet, taking several large steps back and adjusting her skirt which had risen up her thighs. Sans looked her up and down and gave a small nod, chuckling as he rubbed the back of his head. “Well I am glad you got along with Sascha and Rocco so well then,” he said making a small clicking noise with his tongue to which the two Dobermans took off down the hall with the smaller one bouncing after them “but I hope you can forgive my bro for not giving you at least a little bit of a heads up. Yo Papyrus stop being rude and come out and say hi!” he called over his shoulder before strolling over to the door but pausing to gently rest his hand on her wrist saying quietly “You look really great by the way. If you always look this good when you study I should help you more often.”

Ali felt a small hiccup in her breath and she cursed under her breath for actually blushing at the lame attempt at a pick up line. And because when his brother walked in the first impression he got of her was enflamed cheeks and a small pout. “Greetings my name is Papyrus and you must be the girl Sans could not stop talking about last night. How lucky for you!” Papyrus said, his lanky form strutting into the room. Ali had to suppress a loud snort as she shot a glance back to Sans who was frantically waving his hands back and forth in front of him. Her eyes that returned to the figure in front of her, if Sans hadn’t of said something she would never have thought of the two as brothers.

They seemed close in age, Papyrus probably the younger one judging from his slightly less tired features that she envied, but where Sans was short and built Papyrus was tall and lean. Even the way they presented themselves was wildly different. Sans looked comfortable where ever he was and like he could be dropped anywhere and just blend in with the crowd. While Papyrus at once stood out, he had a confident if not cocky presence though it made Ali wonder if this was deserved or just the teenage invincibility that everyone has at some point in time before the real world creeps up on them.

As different as they were though, on closer inspection she could see their resemblances. While their builds were different they both had a hidden muscle to them. Papyrus was skinny but had the shape of an athlete, a sort of cat like muscle to his scrawny shape that could be seen in the smoothness of his walk. Sans was almost the opposite, his small and chubby exterior wouldn’t automatically make anyone think of muscles like they would with his brother but they were undeniably there. He had fluidity to his movements that suggested an hidden agility and the way his muscles strained beneath his clothes when he shifted hinted at a strength that he kept in check. Then of course there were their smiles. Each of them had a smile that was simply infectious and despite only being in their presence for a few minutes Ali could feel her cheeks aching from the strain of smiling more that she had in weeks. It warmed her from the inside and filled her with determination to make this night a success.

“Hm can’t stop talking about me huh?” Ali asked with a smirk as she turned to look at Sans who was taking a great interest in tying his shoes properly as she spoke. “Well I also hope he talked about bones nonstop because that’s what I need him for. Are you ready to go, I want to get going before it gets too cold and I am going to want to get some sleep tonight so let’s get going lazy bones,” she said rubbing her hands together as she headed back over to the door.

“If you didn’t want to get cold you should have worn better clothes that stuff won’t keep you warm. Do you want to borrow some of mine?” Papyrus asked gesturing to her skirt with a raised eyebrow. He may have had a point and Ali didn’t really have an answer so she just gulped slightly and played with the ends of her hair and muttered an excuse about laundry or some other nonsense and refusing to look over at Sans who she could clearly hear snickering.

“Yeah next time I’ll have to loan you some pants so you stay warm Ali but for now let’s get going. We don’t want you to forget why we’re going by getting lost in my eyes,” he said joining her by the door, one hand shoved into his pockets while the other gently traced the small of her back as he guided her out the door. “I trust you won’t burn down the house feeding yourself without me and make sure you get to bed early bro, I’m not gonna be paying for a cab for you to go to school if you miss your bus,” he called over his shoulder with a small two fingered salute to Papyrus as Ali gave him a small wave.

“I didn’t know you had a brother, he seems nice. A bit oblivious but nice,” Ali said once they were back out into the street, following a step behind Sans so he could lead the way to the restaurant. She then tilted her head slightly and tucked her hair behind her ear saying in a small airy laugh “Actually I don’t know anything about you other than you like puns. Probably not the safest thing to base a decision to meet someone at their home on.”

“Yep completely reckless but when you pass your test with the highest grade in the class you can find a reckless way to thank me,” Sans said rolling his head over to look up at her with a playful gleam in his eye. “And yeah Papyrus is a pretty great kid. One of these nights I will have him make spaghetti for us. Oh it will taste awful but it will make him happy,” he said thoughtful as he ran his fingers along her arm to signal that he was turning.

Ali placed a hand on her hip and pushed out her bottom lip “You know with the way you’re talking it almost seems like you plan to make a habit out of seeing me,” she said not sure if the pout was because he sounded like he wanted to or because he hadn’t yet asked formally. At that thought she gave herself a small shake, they had known each other for all of half an hour, he hadn’t even fulfilled his promise to help her study yet! But even knowing all of this she couldn’t help but feel pulled to him, not in the traditional omg this crush is forming way but he just seemed so easy going with everything and with how stressed she could become it was nice to have someone giving off those vibes.

His answer was just a small shrug as he came to a stop at a small warm looking shop that looked inviting but oddly out of place. Its brick exterior with crawling ivy clashing with the sleek glass and metal works of all the surrounding buildings in the best kind of way. She peeked into the store front window, the name Grillby’s spelled out in chipping gold foil, to see one of those café’s you see in the pictures of aesthetic blogs complete with a small stage where good looking people would come up to sit on a stool in the spot light and spit out poetry they composed from things they were taught in their first year philosophy class. It was pretty much everything she had ever dreamed of discovering.

Ali put her hands up to her face, her eyes wide with excitement “Oh my gosh this place is perfect~” she cooed, swaying where she stood happy to just take in the picture of the place and then continue on with her life. She realized that probably wasn’t the plan Sans had in mind though when he beamed over at her as he held the door open and gave a small bow to usher her in. She gave a sheepish smile and a light giggle as she returned a small curtsey before walking into the warm expresso tinged air.

“Yeah it’s pretty great. I sneak off here whenever I can, that usually means I get about five meals a day,” Sans said waving to a couple of the staff who called out greetings to him before sliding into a booth with a content sigh. “It’s also why I have a tab nearly as large as the population of California,” he chuckled blowing the bangs out of his eyes. Ali didn’t even have the time to crack open her menu before a server was at their side, a large cup and weirdly a bottle of ketchup placed in front of Sans.

“Hey there Grillby, anyone good play anything yet tonight?” Sans asked dumping a large squirt of ketchup into his coffee and stirring it in, not paying attention to the gag escaping from Ali. The waiter and what she could only assume was the owner given the name just rolled his eyes and turned to Ali tapping his pen on his pad. Her eyes quickly scanned the menu, feeling terrible to keep him waiting, quickly deciding on hot chocolate rather than all of the coffee options. She had a large addition to the stuff but knew that caffeine would only make focusing on the real task at hand harder.

“As much as I desperately want to know about the whole ketchup ordeal we did come here for a reason,” Ali said giving a distasteful look to the ketchup bottle and pulling her cup towards her once it was delivered. She then dived into her bag to pull out her text books and notes, a waterfall of notecards flooding the table. “Now smart man you promised to help me learn the human body so where do you want to start?” she asked with a firm glance over to him as she pushed her book over to him.

“Hey hey don’t worry I got you covered no need to get so pushy,” he grinned taking a long slip from his coffee then giving his fingers a crack before pushing out of his seat with a grunt. Ali gave him a suspicious look, hoping he wasn’t going to try and bail on her but much to her amazement he headed over to the empty stage. A few regulars seemed to recognize him and gave a small snap as he picked up a worn out looking guitar set off to the side. Ali watched him curiously, her head leaning on hand as she watched him settle into the stool and adjust the guitar strap so he could hold onto it better.

“This one goes out to the pretty, pretty stressed girl who needs to learn about dem bones,” he said in a low raspy voice that sent shivers up her spine. He had her completely captivated as he cleared his throat and then started to sing while strumming on the guitar “The cranium’s connected to the mandible. The mandible’s connected to the clavicle. The clavicle’s connected to the scapula. Dem bones, dem bones, dem bones” he sang in a sultry voice in a modified tune of the bone song.

Everyone, including Ali, was soon laughing and clapping along giving him a standing ovation once he ended with the metatarsals and phalanges. He gave a large bow and blew kisses out into the crowd, winking over to Ali before he headed back to his seat with a shit eating grin on his face. “So think you may remember at least some of the bones now?” he asked in all but a purr, running his fingers through his hair. He was attempting to look as calm as possible but Ali saw his leg jiggling uneasily and a certain strain in his eyes as he searched her face for approval.

She decided to keep him waiting a few more moments longer, sipping at his drink casually as she flipped through a couple pages of her book. When it looked like he was ready to jump out of his seat and shake the praise out of her she finally laughed, tossing her head back and giving him a glittering smile. “Oh Sans that was fantastic. It was kind of a silly song of course but you played so beautifully. I would love to hear how you sound when you are actually putting some more thought into it,” she said leaning onto the table to bring her closer to him. “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forget this,” she said warmly, reaching her fingers up to her lips to give them a small kiss and then pressed them to his cheek.

His cheeks turned three shades darker and he slid down into his seat, a hand coming up to rub at the spot you had touched. “What are you implying that we are going to be spending more time with me,” he scoffed scratching at his chin giving her a glance from the corner of his eye, gulping slightly. Ali hid a sly smile behind the rim of her cup before setting it aside and pulling her notes towards her, scribbling down a few notes while humming his tune. “I mean because if you wanted I am totally free tomorrow for lunch … actually I’m always free if food is involved” he said in a quick breath, bouncing his leg even faster.

Ali laughed and showed him the page she had been writing in her notebook. Written in large letters was “I would love too.” Sans grinned and jumped a little in his seat but tried to play it cool by stretching his arms over his head. “Well then you better make sure you pass your test then, it will be hard to be humerus if you’re feeling down” he snickered slapping his hand on his knee. Ali just gave a half groan half laugh as she shook her head. She was starting to think that she had never made a better choice than buying a hotdog.


	3. Chapter 3

Ali absolutely loved Halloween and was glad that this year she would actually have someone to celebrate it with. Her family had never been interested in the holiday, they called it nothing but an American excuse to get candy, but that had never bothered her. She loved to get dressed up and watch all the scary movies that her mother told her were going to give her nightmares. She hadn’t been wrong but Ali thought that it was half of the fun. And she was planning on having plenty of fun tonight dressing up and handing out candy with Sans and Papyrus. They had all tried to think of some fun thing to go out and do but in the end they all decided it was all kind of a lot of work and money so scary movies and greeting trick or treaters was the easiest solution.

It was strange for Ali to think that she had only met the brothers just over a month ago now that they were so engrained in her life. She still spent time and went out with her girlfriends but it wasn’t the same type of friendship that she had with them. Even though it had been just a short time she had come to feel right at home with them. She actually spent most of her afternoons in their apartment, crashing onto the couch with take out to watch terrible movies which Sans collected. She had asked him why he only owned bad movies and he said that there was no fun in watching something that was actually good. She had a hard time arguing when they were both laughing so hard they were holding their sides. Papyrus wasn’t nearly impressed with the movies, groaning through all of the bad puns and action sequences, but put up with them none the less. Though he usually escaped in the evening to go out to hang out with a friend who was still nameless to her but Sans assured she would be meeting at some point. He didn’t quite seem happy about this but never went into great detail why, just muttering something about a rocky past that as curious as Ali was she never pushed. She still felt there were some boundaries she wasn’t ready to push just yet.

Tonight was not the night to worry about that though. Ali was far too excited to let something so trivial get to her. She had been thinking all month on what to be before finally deciding on a beloved classic, a witch. It wasn’t that hard to put together, she had simply tossed on her favorite black dress with the drooping V-neck and the flared arms with the skirt being just the perfect length to catch a few glances with it falling half way down her thighs. Her legs were well protected against the chill though with her green and black striped stalking which had been the hardest choice for her since she was so torn between green and purple. Green had won out simply because they made her own green eyes stand out against her honey glow skin. Plus of course what witch costume would be complete without the classic black pointed hat? It made her feel a little silly but she loved it and she knew that she was killing it.

Ali didn’t even bother to knock once she arrived at their apartment any more, Sans had long ago said he was too lazy to get up every single time she wanted to come over so and she knew how to turn a door knob. So she barged right in like she owned the place, strutting in with her arms spread out to show off her outfit “So tell me am I not the cutest witch this side of Oz?” she asked with a grin, twirling with the end of her plait she had braided over her shoulder. Her smile fell, however when she discovered that the two boys in front of her were not at all dressed for Halloween. In fact they looked no different than they did every other day. She glared at them and crossed her arms “I am going to be a bad witch in two minutes if I don’t get an explanation as to why I am the only one dressed up,” she growled tapping her foot.

Papyrus jumped at her harsh stares, giving a nervous laugh while he looked to Sans for help. He wasn’t very good with handling situations like these. Sans patted his brothers arm “Calm down your wickedness we just had a change of plans is all. Papyrus got invited to a Halloween party down town with his friend and well his friend,” at this Sans wrinkled his nose and started to talk through clenched teeth “doesn’t exactly take no for an answer. Plus I ate all of the candy so I figured there is no sense getting a costume if you and me were going to be watching movies,” he said calmly flashing her his best crooked smile that usually made her give in to his excuses. Usually. But not tonight.

Instead she continued to stare down at Sans, her eyes an emerald flame and the air around her seemed to boil with her anger. She could see the sweat forming on his forehead and he held up a finger “And did I mention that you’re the cutest witch in the entirety of any time line or dimension?” he said shakily before whispering to his brother “Quick run now I think I can buy you a couple of minutes.” Papyrus didn’t need to be told twice and quickly made a run for the door, his gangly arms wind milling at his side as he curved out of her reach and slammed the door behind him. Sans then gulped and rubbed at the back of his head as he stared longingly at the couch “I um already set up a whole line of movies and I managed to not eat all the popcorn in the house. Come on is spending some alone time with your old pal that torturous?” he asked with a shrug.

Ali could only sigh in response. Truth was it really wasn’t all that terrible. As much as she loved hanging out with the pair of them she actually felt herself missing some alone time with Sans. They hadn’t truly been alone together since their study session and even then that wasn’t really alone. Actually, now that she thought about it she never had spent this kind of quality time with him. She hoped that he was too busy avoiding may eye contact with her to notice the flush that rose to her cheeks. “Fine I guess its not terrible,” she admitted begrudgingly, taking the hat off of her head and tossing it off to the side where her shoes shortly joined “and either way I look cute and it was an excuse to do my makeup” she said dragging her bare toes across the carpet to sit on the couch. She took notice of the single blanket draped over the back of it, usually for a movie nights everyone ended up cocooned in at least two or three of their own blankets. She wondered if this was placed there on purpose and she wanted to be mad but instead it made the corner of her lips curl up.

It wasn’t an easy thing for her to admit that she had a crush on Sans but it wasn’t exactly a hard thing to do. Ali was convinced anyone could instantly develop some kind of feelings about him, he was the easiest guy to get along with and as much as he tried to play it off he was incredibly sweet. He couldn’t resist helping people but had a knack of going about it that it never seemed liked he was offering help but rather that it was just a coincidence that he was able to help. It was something that was highly endearing to her yet made her stomach knot a little, she thought that maybe he liked her too because what guy goes through the trouble of singing a silly song about the skeleton in front of a crowd if he wasn’t trying to impress her? But he did lots of nice things for lots of people and it made her think that she could just completely be reading this friendship wrong. So she hoped that him decided not to go out with his brother but to remain here alone with her was a good sign and not just an act of him being antisocial.

“Oh gee it really is friends like you that make me feel like I am wanted,” Sans said with a hand over his heart in over dramatic scorn. Ali just rolled her eyes and stared expectantly at the dvd player until he finally cracked giving a small laugh and falling onto the opposite end of the couch, remote in hand. Ali took note of his choice to sit on the other end but also saw how he was quick to pull the blanket over to him and lay his arm casually over the top of the couch. It almost seemed like an open invitation. One Ali was more than willing to take but she wasn’t going to let him know that. At least not yet.

No instead she remained on her own cushion, her feet tucked behind her and leaning over the arm like a lazy cat as she watched the fantastically horrible indie scary movies that Sans inexplicably owned. The first one she was sure was nothing but a fetish film with a badly green screened giant women stepping on assorted people and places in a city that was obviously new York but called something else. About half way through she could feel the cold start to creep up her legs, for some reason this apartment was always freezing but today it seemed even more so. She looked over to Sans and gave a small whine “Come give me some blanket over here, I’m freezing my stocking off!”

He didn’t look away from the movie “Sorry but it’s a short blanket and all the others are in the wash after a spaghetti incident last night. If you want just come over here. There’s plenty of room,” he said nonchalantly, holding up the blanket in an invitation to come closer. It seemed like such an off handed request but there was a small twitch of his lips that suggested more. Ali cursed him in her head, damn was he smooth. She didn’t want this all of this to seem like he was holding all of the cards but well at this point he kind of was. So with a small huff she scooted over to sit next to him but tried her best to establish the space between them. Sans didn’t push this, didn’t even move his arm in around her even though she doubted it couldn’t be very comfortable holding it up like that.

Ali was doing her best to keep from leaning into his very welcoming form, trying to hold her resolve until he admitted what he was trying to do but found it getting harder by the second. This was not just because she craved cuddles of any kind but because her usual movie watching position was leaning on a pillow or couch arm but in this position there was only one thing to lean against. Sans. She pursed her lips and tried to do her best to get comfortable in any other position but after a long ten minutes of back and leg cramps finally gave in again. She glanced up at him through her eyelashes as she slowly leaned against him, stretching out comfortably with her head finding the perfect crook for her head to lie. She bit down on her cheek to keep from saying anything and to keep her from staring up at Sans even though she was dying to see his expression.

This of course didn’t last long and when he didn’t say anything she finally turned to look up at him, scanning his face almost asking if what she was doing was alright. This seemed to be the cue he was looking for because his arm then fell slowly down to rest over her, his fingertips brushing warmly against her waist. Ali felt her entire body suddenly burst into flames and she suddenly had to struggle to keep her body still and her eyes on the tv. This also was quickly thrown out the window when Sans leaned to whisper into her ear “Are you comfortable?” which caused a large shiver to run down her spine. She wouldn’t be surprised if it hadn’t made her hair stand on end.

“Uh yeah I’m fine, you’re just blocking the arm so you’ve become a substitute pillow,” she said with a laugh that she meant to come off as airy but sounded more manic than anything. She quickly bit down on her tongue and shifted to pull the blanket up to cover the bottom half of her face. She hoped he only thought it was because she was cold but really she knew better than that. She could feel the soft chuckle rumble through his chest and caught a glimpse of a smile on his lips. But that was the end up of it, he didn’t move to pull her closer or lean down to tease her with his breath. The only movement from him was the occasional burst of laughter that started from the pit of his stomach and shook through his entire body at a particularly bad scene and his fingers light as air tracing small smoothing circles.

His lack of trying to make a move was driving Ali absolutely mad. She abandoned any act of discretion, looking up at him every couple of minutes with her a pronounced pout. Why wasn’t he letting his hands travel? Why wasn’t he making all kinds of pervy jokes? And why did she just know that the shade of green she had worn on her lips would look even better painted in kiss marks all over his face? The questions were eating her alive and she let out a small frustrated groan.

Sans raised an eyebrow down at her, a smirk plastered on to his disgustingly kissable lips. He bent his head down and whispered as if they were in a movie theatre, his breath hot against her lips “What is something wrong? I mean I know the movie is bad but that’s kind of out thing isn’t it?” he asked his forehead just barely resting against hers “Or has this all just become a … giant pain?” he snickered with a toothy grin.

At this Ali groaned for a completely different reason, slapping a hand to her face. “God you are the absolute worse,” she mumbled before sitting up, pressing her hands against his chest to give them a bit of distance though his fingers lingered perhaps a moment too long. “And yeah my problem is I have to go to the bathroom but you are smothering me. Now if you would excuse me,” she said standing up and brushing off her skirt before making a beeline down the hall. She needed to cool down for just a few minutes and maybe making him wait for her would push him into actually making a move. She didn’t real expect it but it was a slim hope.

Ali pushed into the bathroom, keeping her eyes closed shut as she searched for the light switch, cause hey on Halloween you could never be too careful. But she almost wish she had kept the lights out. There sitting in the bathtub was a dark figure moaning. She screamed and fell back, tripping over her own feet and crashing onto the floor. Faster than she could have ever believed humanely possible Sans was at her side. “Ali are you alright whats wro …” he started, kneeling down next to her, but cut short when he saw the figure in the bathtub.

“Gaster what the fuck!” Sans bellowed making Ali jump even more, she had never heard Sans get so loud. Her eyes grew large as plates as she watched Sans seem to forget about her as he pushed into the bathroom approaching what she could now make out was a man in a suite sitting in the empty tub. She would have found this even more weird than she already did if she didn’t smell the stench of alcohol curling through the air as the man hiccupped.

“Oh Sa-Sans you’re home? I thought you are your brrrrother went out with the other one. The one with the leeegs,” the man slurred as he sat up in the tub, swinging a glass of pale amber liquid around in his hand before catching himself and attempting to hide it behind his back. “Okay I know what you’re thinking but really its Halloween and I don’t eat candy so I gotta treat myself!” he said quickly taking the cup and downing it before Sans snatched it away with a snarl.

“Yeah yeah holidays are your favorite days to drink and ruin shit isn’t it? God you better be glad that Papyrus isn’t home and didn’t find you like this. You’ve done enough damage to him,” Sans snapped picking up the bottle of whisky off the floor by the tub. Ali watched as he poured what little was left down the sink.

“H-hey I paid good money for that who do you thinks you is dumping money down the drain,” the man said attempting to stand up in the tub and giving Ali her first good look at him. The first thought that popped up into her mind was how much he looked like Papyrus. He had the same tall lithe build and chiseled features but everything about him screamed run down. He had bags under his eyes and his clothes were nothing more than a pile of wrinkles. Even his muscles seemed too tired to hold him up properly though she supposed that could be due to his current level of intoxication.

“Gaster it’s in a plastic container, if you’re gonna get drunk you can’t even shell out the money for some good stuff? And I can do whatever the damn well I please with money since I’m the one that makes sure we don’t have our asses out on the streets,” Sans said with a coldness that seeped down into Ali’s heart. She winced slightly, she never expected that he would ever be able to say something so chilling to someone. As much as she wanted nothing more than to disappear into a hole in the ground curiosity was now starting to gnaw at her.

She pushed herself off of the floor and slowly approached Sans like one approached a caged animal. She lightly put a hand on his shoulder, anticipating his quick and sharp turn to her. She cowered away slightly seeing an angry fire burning behind his usual laughing gaze. He seemed to catch this though and his expression softened slightly towards her. “Um Sans I really hate to pry but uh well I can’t help it. Whats going on here? Who is he?” she asked  her eyes flickering over to the man he had called Gaster who was now stumbling over to them.

“What whos this?” he asked leaning forward slightly and squinting towards Ali as if he couldn’t see her despite the light in the room. His eyes then grew large and his mouth hang open a bit “Woah you brought a girl around? A girl! … A girl Sans?” he asked going from excitement to utter confusion “You brought a girl?” he asked once more as if questioning if she was in fact a girl.

Ali watched as color flooded Sans face in a dangerous way and his hands grabbed onto the edge of the sink until his knuckles turned white. “Shut the hell up Gaster,” he snapped before whirling around to grab a towel and tossed it in the mans face “and Jesus clean yourself up. Is it really so much to ask that you at least try to have some self-respect?” Sans than turned his attention back to Ali, a pained expression on his face as he brashly took her hand and pulled her away “Come on I’ll explain in a second but I don’t want to stay around him any longer.”

Ali gave a small nod of her head and only stopped to slip into her shoes but careful to not let go of his hand. It was nice to be holding it of course but she didn’t take time to bask in that. All she knew was that he was gripping her hand so tight it was making her fingers numb and she thought that he needed something to keep him grounded in that moment. She was willing to sacrifice her circulation for a while to give that to him. She followed him in silence until Sans finally stopped and collapsed onto a bench at the park a mile or so from his house. It was the park they usually took the dogs walking in and she hadn’t realized just how long they had been walking.

She quietly sat down next to him, their fingers still interlocked which she rested in her lap. She let him sit in the silence for a few minutes, his head buried into his free hand. She slowly slid closer to him, brushing her body against his and laying her head on his shoulder. “I’m not going to make you talk about everything,” she said quietly, her lips brushing against the nape of his neck “and I won’t make you talk at all until you are ready but at some point you’re going to have to talk.”

Sans seemed to have forgotten she was even there with him, lost in his own thoughts, because he gave a small start hearing her. He blinked over at her before giving a small sigh and resting his head on top of her own, breathing into her hair. “I’m sorry I’m acting weird and I’m sorry you had to see that. Its just … ugh my Dad is an embarrassment.” He said with a grimace bringing their hands up to give a small but warm kiss to the top of her hand “I knew I couldn’t keep him hidden forever, he freaking lives with us but this really wasn’t how I wanted you to meet him. Hell I was thinking of every way to keep from having you guys meet actually.”

Ali just stared up at him with wide eyes “That was your father? And he lives there and we just never crossed paths? Holy fuck I didn’t even think you had a dad. I mean of course you have a dad but well I just thought you and Papyrus were living together on your own,” she said bewildered, caught so off guard she didn’t even pay mind to the fact that he had kept her hand pressed to his lips. She then saw how rude she was being and gulped “Oh geez I’m sorry that came out all wrong Sans. I’m sorry I won’t pry,” she said sheepishly casting her eyes down.

Sans just sighed and let their entwined hands fall now to his lap, his fingers fidgeting against her skin. “No you have every right to ask questions and I really shouldn’t have been so secretive its just well … as you can see we really aren’t on the best terms. And hes usually off doing his own thing, I tried to keep track of him but now I don’t really bother. He always ends up gone so I’ve given up hope that hes actually staying on the right track this time. Hes said that too many times before,” he said with pursed lips and his grip tightening.

“I just feel bad that our night has gotten ruined and you’ve been looking forward to this for like a month. I’ll make it up to you I promise, tell me right now what you want to do and we will do it. I don’t care how much its gonna cost me, I kind of deserve it” he said looking over to Ali with pleading eyes, wanting so much to make this night end on a good note.

Ali gave him a warm smile and took his arm placing it over her shoulder so that she could press up against him with her arms wrapped around his middle. She gave him a small squeeze, his soft stomach pressing against his arm reminding her of an overstuffed teddy bear. “Right now all I want to do is be here with you. This … this is perfect,” she blushed leaning in close to him, her lips so close to his that all she had to do was close the small gap but she resisted. This time she was going to force him to come to her. She could see the muscles twitching his face, could feel his chapped lips moving as he smiled and she closed her eyes just waiting for him to finally make his move, her heart all but beating out of her chest in anticipation until he finally kissed her. Except not in the way she had planned.

Instead he had pulled back with an obviously pained expression before planting a kiss to the top of her head, holding it there for longer than what would be considered normal. Ali felt her heart drop into the pit of her stomach and she looked away, maybe she really had been reading everything wrong this whole entire time. She attempted to move away from Sans but his arms held her firmly in place, giving a small taste of the strength hidden underneath his fluff. “Its not perfect. You deserve perfect,” he finally muttered in a husky tone before letting her go and gingerly standing up.

“Come on I think Grillby’s is holding a costume contest and each year a bunch of hipsters show up in costumes from books and movies no one has ever seen. It’s a real riot and while it won’t fix things at least it’s a start,” he said suddenly returning to his cheerful self as if nothing had happened, holding out his hand to her. Ali stared down at it with moist eyes, emotions flooding her brain and leaving her not sure where to go. There was no point in making any more of  a scene though so she forced a smile onto her own face and took his hand, letting him pull her up.

“Sure it sounds like a wicked time,” she laughed with a small dry chime and plastering that grin on her face “Get it cause I’m a witch?” she prodded poking at his ribs.

Sans gave a small snort “Yeah yeah I get it but that one I could have lived … witch or witch out” he snickered and despite herself Ali laughed, bumping him gently with her hip and winding their arms closer together. He was right maybe this was a start.


End file.
